Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-10-28
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Weekly Discourse of the Great
Brooklyn Preacher
Subject. s'Fcrbidden Honey"


TEXT; 81 did but taste a lille homer tVith
the end Of the rod that lcds in Rly hand, AMI
toI Imust die.n-I Samuel xiv, 49,
The honey bee Is most ingenious architect,
Christopher Wren among insects, a geoms-
ter drawing hexagons and pent lgons. a free
boot roobing ths fields OF pollen and aroma,
ANONYMOUS creature OF God, who biography,
written by Huber and xammerdain, is an
| enchantment for any lover OF nature. Virgil
eelebra ed the bee iu hii fable OF Artist eus,
AMI Moses, and Sanuel and David, and Solo
| mon, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and 1T
John e1 the delieaeies OF bee manufacture
as g. Eibse symbol. A miracle of formation Is
the bee; i've eyes two tonguIs, the outer hav-
ing sheath OF prote t on, hair on all side 8 of
Its tiny body to brush up the particles Of
| flowers; Its flight so straight that all the world
Knows of the bee lina The hOnsycomb is a
palace such as no one but God cou plan
and the honey bee construct; It's cells
sometimes dCrmitory, sometimes a store
house, and sometimes cemetery. These
winged toilers first make eight strip of
wax, and by their sntenne. which are to
| them hammer and chissl, and square and
plumb line, fashion them for use Two
and two, these wo ksrs shape the wall.
| u an acc dent happ.n they put up but
tresses or extla beams to reneiy the dam
| age. When about the year 1915 an inse t,
before unknown, In the night time attacked
the beehlves all over Europe, and the men
who owned them were in vain trying to plan
! something to keep out the invader that was
| the terror Of the beahives OF the cont nent it
was found that everywhere the bees had ar
ranged for their own protection, and builG
before their boneycomos an especial wall OF
wax, with portfolios through which the bees
might go to and fro, bu5 not large enough to
admit the winged combataat, called the
| Sphinx Atropos
| Do you know that the swarrnlng OF the bees
Is divine!y directed The mother bee starts
! for new home, and because Of this the other
| bees OF the hive get into an excitement which
raises the heat OF the hive some folr degrees,
! and they must de unless they leave Their
| heated apartments, and they follow the
mother bee and alight o. the branch OF a
tree, and cling to e ;ch other and hold on
until a committee oE two or three have ex-
I plored the region and found the hollow of G
tree or rock not far OF from stream of
water, and they here set up a new colony,
and ply their aromatic industries ana give
themselveS to the manufacture Of the saccha-
rine edible But who can tell the chemistry
Of that mixture of sweetness part Of it the
very lite Of the bee and part Of 1t ths life Of
the fleldsl =
Plenty Of the luscious product WIS hang
ing in the woods of Beth aven during the
time OF Saul anl Jonathan. Their army was
In pursuit of an enemy that by Gods COM
mand must be exterminated. The soldiery
were positively forbidden to stop to eat any
thing until the work Is done. If they DISC.
| beyed they were accurs3l. Coming through
the woods they found place where tae bees
had been busy, great honey manutactory.
Honey gathered in the holloY OF the trees
until it had overllowel upon the ground tu
great protusion OF sweetness. All the army
ooeyed orders and touched it not save Jola-
than. and he not knowing the mil tary order
n 1iV1vAn J.. ~.
had in his hand into the candle llJuid, and
as, yellow and brown andte noting it glowel
on the end of tho stick he put it to mouth
and ate the honey. Jud ym Mt fell upon him,
and but for special intervention he would
have been s'aln. In my text jonathan an.
nounces his awful mistake: II d d buj taste
little honey with the en- / of tn : 10 that was
IN my hand, AMI, 10, must de-" Alas, what
multltudes Of people in al ages have be n
damaged by forbidden honey, by which
mean temptation, delicious and attractive,
but damaging and destructive.
Corrupt literature, fascinat ng but death full.
comes IN this category. Where one good
hundred made up Of rhetorical trash con.
sumed with avtditv. When the boy In the
cars comes through with q pile Of puhlioa.
tons look over the titles and noo!ce that nine
out OF every ten of the books are depicting
and Injurious. All the way from New York
10 Cbicago or New Or,eaas notcs that OBJ
Jectlonable books dominate Taste for p,lre
literature is poisoned by this scum Of the
publishing houses, Every book in which sin
trlumphs over virture, or in which a glamor
Is thrown over dissipation, or which leaves
you at It's last line with less respecG for the
marriage institution and less abhorrence
Ior tha parlmou' is depression
or your own moral character. The
book blndery may be at ract We and the plot
dramatic and stai tIing, AMI the style Of
writing sweet as the honey thlt Jonathan
dlpped up with his rod, but your best int r.
eSts forbid it, yoar moral safety forbids it.
your God forhi'ls 1t, and one taste of it may
lead TO such bad results that you may have
to say at the close OF the experiment. or al
the close OF a misimproved ltfetimg: II did
put taste little honey with the rod that was
In my hand, and, 10, must dep
Corrupt literature is doing more to-day for
the disruption of domestic life than anv other
cause. Elopements, marital intrigues, sly
correspondence, fictitious names given at
postonce windows, clandestine meetings in
parks, ana at ferry gates, and In hotel par.
iors, and conjugal perjuries, are among the
damnabie results. When a woman. Soung
or OLD, gets her head thoroughly stuffed
Win The modern novel size is In ap-
Palllng peril But some one will say: 1.-The
heroes are so atroitly knayish, and the per-
sons SO bewitchngly untrue AMI the tn n
OF the story so ex luisite, and all the charsc-
ters 80 enraptlrlng, l cannot quit them. "
My brother, my sister, yoI can find styles of
literature just as charming that will elevate
and purify and ennoble, and ChristianiIe
while they please. The devil doe; not own
all the honey. There is a wealth OF good
books coming forth from our publishing
houses that leaves no excuse for the choice OF
that which is debauchng to body mind AMI
soul. Go to some intelligent man or wo nan
AMI ask for list of books that will be
strengthening to your mental and moral
condition. Life is so short and your time for
improvement so abbreviated that you can
not afford to fill up with husks and cinders
and debris, In the interStices Of business
that young man Is reading that which will
prepare him to be q merchant prince, and
that young woman is filing her mind with an
: intel igence that will yet either make her the
chief attraction Of good mans home or give
her an Independence of character that will
quality her to build her own home and main
, tain it in happiness that requires no aug
mentation from any OF ourroIgher sex. That
young man or young woman can by the righ
literary and moral Improvement Of the sparG
ten minutes here or there in every day, rist
head and shoulders in prosperity and charae
ter and influence above the louRgers whC
read nothing or read that which bedwarfs
See all the forests of good American litera
tme dripping with honey Why pick up tn,
J honeycombs that haYe in them the fiery beet
, which will sting you with an eternal poison
while you tast i'll One book may for you ol
. me decide everything for this world an 1 the
next 1t was turning point with me wher
in Wynkoop's bookstore, Syracuse ont
day / picked up a book called "Tht
T Beauties of Ruskin" 1t was only book o
I extracts, but II was all pure honey, anC
was not satisfied until had purchased al
his works, at that time expansive beyon al
easy capacity TO own them, and what
heaven went through In reading his "ceveI
Lamps of Architecture" and his "Stones o
Venice" it is impo sib for me to describe